Stripes – Hopefully Creative

Thin Stripes Sweater

Spiral striped sweater with a hint of yak.

I saw the # 18 Top down Pullover by Lana Grossa as free pattern on Ravelry and immediately fell in love. Too bad the free version was only in German and this pattern was quite difficult to understand. I became so obsessed with making it that I went online to find an English version of it and ended up paying for a whole stack of printed paper of all the patterns in the magazine it was published in. We’ll see if I make any more of the included items.

One dark gray skein, two gray skeins and two white skeins.

For the yarn, I dyed some MCN DK, a dk weight yarn with Merino, Nylon and Cashmere in a grey/brownish tint. I also used two more skeins of that yarn but undyed and two skeins of Tibetan DK, with Merino, Yak and Silk for the thin stripes and hems. I purchased the yarn bases way back, based on their listed gauge, before I even got hold of the English pattern. That’s how much I wanted it.

When I had my pattern and my yarn, I got to work. I believe I followed the instructions pretty faithfully up to the transition from dark to thin stripes. I messed up a little there but I think I managed to hide it pretty well. The pattern uses spiral stripes to get those thin stripes, which is such a cool technique. It did take me a bit to figure out how it worked though, so there are some increase errors in one of the raglan areas.

Thin Stripe Pullover neckline view on mannequin.

Thin Stripe Pullover dark gray to thin stripe transition.

I followed the pattern until separating the sleeves and even a bit further, put it on and thought it looked like a tent. So I frogged a whole bunch (also super interesting with spiral stripes) and separated for sleeves a lot sooner. I also didn’t add as many stitches in the underarm and I decided to continue the one raglan pattern p, k7, p down the body and the sleeves. I thought that was a fun little detail. Then it was on to a whole lot of stockinette knitting, three at a time. The separate balls of yarn were in the sweater which was held closed with safety pins. This worked really well.

Thin Stripe Pullover front view on mannequin.

Thin Stripe Pullover back view detail of white cross marking on mannequin.

For the bottom, I chose to do a 3×1 rib so I didn’t have to do a fold-over hem. I didn’t have enough yarn to make it in the same colour as the top, so I used the yak yarn for that. Seemed like a wiser choice than white cuffs, especially for such a klutz like I am. I did hours and hours of research on bind-offs, chose one, did it wrong and decided I liked it better than what it was supposed to be, so I left it. The final touch was hiding all the ends and stitching a little cross in the neckline to mark the back. I don’t own much brown clothing, but I do really like this thing. I hope it is as soft to wear as it is to touch!

Massive Pockets Dress

Bright and happy, never mind the flaws.

Who needs a handbag when you can just have massive pockets!

For graduation this year (yes, only 2.5 months out of date), I made another dress. The design for it came about when I was on the fabric market in Rotterdam and found two fabrics in the same pattern but different colourways. I wanted to have this is a skirt that I’d sort of remembered having seen in a pattern magazine at some point. It had godet inserts, which I thought was pretty cool. So I started planning this whole thing, by finding the patterns – Knipmode 11/2020 Model 15 as skirt with Simplicity 55 model 38 (New Look 6447) as top – and figuring out which bit would be which colour. Then I checked my fabric again and I hated it, not heavy enough for this plan.

So into the hoard I went and I emerged with some lovely blue linnen-type fabric and some striped green cotton-y stuff? The striped fabric was quite thin and prone to fraying but it looked so happy together and I’d wanted to make something out of it for so long. I also grabbed some white cotton for a lining because the stripes were going to be too see-through otherwise.

The plan was to do the inserts, the waistband and the sleeves out of the blue, and the skirt and top out of the stripes. Because I’m not the biggest fan of mock ups, I used the lining as a test. I cut out all the patterns from the New Look 6447 dress model and put them together. However, for the life of me, I couldn’t get it to fit. I resorted to my old staple the Garden Party dress pattern, redrew some of the lines and made the top out of that. I did add the sleeves from the New Look dress because I could make it work. For some reason, the skirt was also weird, so I turned it back to front and that helped a lot. Since this was still the lining, it wouldn’t be seen under the outer skirt so it wouldn’t be a problem.

The outer skirt came together pretty easily, since the stripes were on grain it was fairly easy to cut. I did have to serge everything before it frayed apart. For the large pockets, I cut the top of the insert two additional times, one with a hole for my hand and the other as the pocket back. I love these pockets. So many things can be stuffed in there, while still looking like a cool design feature. It’s amazing.

The top and skirt were connected and I basically applied the waistband on afterwards. I’d originally planned a shaped waistband, but that didn’t work out either, so this was it. It’s also nowhere near where the lining waist seam is, because that one ended up too high. It’s magic how much you can fudge things with a little sewing.

On the day itself, it was quite warm, so I regretted that the lining was a thick as it was. I should’ve lined it with a little thinner cotton, but well, that’s too bad. I do really like the design of this dress, and I finished it way in time for the occasion, which was great. Since the weather has been really shit this whole Fall claiming to be Summer (it’s just about rained every day since June), I’ve not actually worn it much since. It doesn’t really lend itself to tights.

Flower Power Pantsuit

This year, my preparation for Graduation was On Point. I went to the market one day in Spring and found the most wonderful black & white striped knit with a wealth of blue flowers on top and bottom and some sparse ones along the middle. I didn’t dare to buy it then, but at four o’clock the same day, I came back. Sadly, it wasn’t in the market truck anymore either, but I agreed to pick up a length the next week.

So after I’d gotten the fabric and washed it, I needed to make the pantsuit. I’d decided to use my normal pants pattern with the straight edges and the top from pattern 19-20 in Simplicity Naaimode 32, also known as Simplicity 8178. Then came the difficulty of placement. I’d decided that I did not want to have half flowers along the crotch seam, for obvious reasons. So I sat on the floor for quite a long time to figure out how to get everything out of a short length of fabric. At the end, I think it worked out well.

So, I sewed the thing together forever ago (April apparently). Then about a month before the actual event, got down to hemming the legs. There’s a small snap at the crossover point at the bust. That’s the only real closure. It’s got giant pockets, made out of a black stretch mesh stuff. The pockets do show the things that I stuff in there, but I’m ok with that.

For now, I’ll just continue to keep wearing it and feeling awesome with it!

Ham?

Recently, I’ve been working on a gala dress, made out of some red glittery stuff. Since this thing will have a built in boning layer, it also has some curves. I’d been attempting to press out the curved seams on a flat ironing board. Not particularly smart, I know. Then I remembered the Pressinatrix and her suggestion to always use a ham. Of to the googles I went and found a free pattern made by Victory Patterns posted on the website of Tilly and the buttons (here).

So I quickly grabbed some leftovers from my paper bag shorts and got to work. I followed all the instructions for sewing and added a loop. The loop inspiration I got from another post, but I’m not sure which one anymore. Very useful to have a loop. Once the body was sewn, I filled it with fabric scraps that were in my ‘to be chucked’ bag. I even managed not to salvage anything that I’d already decided needed to go. Very proud of me. The ham proved very useful for pressing the bust curves of the dress. It’s now hanging on a part of my ironing board, so hopefully it’ll see some good use in the future!

The Day of Three Shirts (part 1)

So, today started of snotty – I have a cold, during my vacation – but I managed to get myself into action. I’d started planning a shirt yesterday night but I couldn’t get my brain around the limited amount of fabric. This morning, I started again. Initially I was debating between the shirt pattern with attached sleeves and the one with separate sleeves. After trying to fit them on the small piece of fabric I had left, it had to be the one with separate sleeves. I even had to shorten those to a previously used shorten line because they wouldn’t fit otherwise.

The fabric I used, was left over from the Forgotten Graduation Dress. After ironing the fabric flat again to get the most advantageous pattern placement, I cut out the pieces. The bottoms were not even, but I figured that I would find a solution for that at some other point in the process. I’ve now decided that whatever leftovers there were, they are destined for the bin. One more fabric ‘completed’.

I hemmed the sleeves first with a twin-needle, then sewed the shoulder seams. Next came the sleeves and then the sleeve and side seams in one fell swoop. I found a piece of fabric that was just long enough to bind the neckline edge. Lastly, I decided that I mostly liked the shape of the hem, the back was straight with a small diagonal edge and the front was completely at an angle with a bit of fabric added at the shortest side. I cut of the weird extra bit, which effectively made the shirt’s front and back on that side the same length. Yay, for happy accidents. Hemmed the bottom with the twin needle and called it a day! Or no, I decided to tackle the other difficult placement problem fabric I had in the hoard too. You’ll see about that later!

Getting Ready to Ref

I may have mentioned before that I am part of a roller derby team. We haven’t played any games yet, but we are starting to get there. It’s very enjoyable to practice the skills and do things on 8 wheels, but I am not yet sure whether I like getting bruised. Next to that, I generally find rules very interesting and the rules of roller derby are no exception. I voluntarily read all the rules before it was even necessary and I tend to remember them too. Only one logical conclusion could be found, exploring refereeing was the way to go.

Part of refereeing is the outfit. You need to have a shirt with about 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide white and black vertical stripes. Officially it also needs to be professionally made, but for practising I think home-made would also be fine.

IMG_20170711_221241955

Fabric was really hard to find! I haven’t been able to find black & white stripes of 2.5 cm wide in the vicinity. At some point I found a top at a local shop with the correct width but then the stripes were horizontal. I bought two of those shirts in the largest size and decided to harvest the fabric from those. This means that there is a seam across the bust and back, but it does not bother me. The pattern is my standard shirt pattern, with sleeves. I chose a v-neck, because it makes it easier to get over the head (with helmet). The bands from the tops were also reused for the neckline and sleeves. The project was a long time in the making, since about January, but I finally finished it!

The sleeve bands have a small opening, I wanted to see if that would work. It does, and I like it. The hem was done with a stretch twin needle, I was very happy that that worked too! I haven’t worn it on skates yet, but so far, I am happy with it!

Birdy Scarf

After my failed skirt project from the last post, I wanted something quick and easy that was useful and I could finish and wear quickly. Winter is coming (and/or arriving), which means that I’ve been layering up with a scarf daily again. One of my favourites is a double sided scarf from something cottony that is just a long loop. It has a blue and white plaid on one side and a different yellow and blue plaid on the other. I found that it wears really nicely and that you never have an end hanging in your food. Clearly I needed another and since I have a number of thin fabrics in the stash it seemed like a perfect solution.

Now, have you ever heard of the Dutch proverb (loosely translated) ‘A donkey doesn’t walk into the same rock twice’? Well, I’m most obviously not a donkey, I’m way, way worse. I tend to walk into the same thing at least… oh 5 million times. As I did now. I should have remembered from previous frustrating attempts that you cannot just turn something inside out and expect it to be good. I made a tube, but it was the wrong way round, somehow. Instead of it being a loop of birds on the inside and a loop of stripes on the outside, it turned out to be half a loop of birds on one side and half a loop of stripes on the other side. It also didn’t fit comfortably over my head anymore. So I gave up and chucked it into a corner.

Cue a few hours ago.. I unpicked one of the long edges, ironed out the other long edge and edgestitched around. Then I ironed the other long edge and folded both sides inwards and edgestitched those around too. Magic, I had my scarf. I used 65 cm and the full width of both fabrics for this scarf.

Just the coverage of something around the neck helps tremendously with the cold that’s coming. I need to see how the little birdies hold up, but I hope that this project will be successful. Both sides will show a little but they go with nearly everything (if you ask me, which you don’t but I’m telling you anyway), so I have high hopes.

Stripes Everywhere

To combat underwear views in the last graduation dress, I made some shorts. I found this leggings pattern on the internet (Into the woods from Grosgrain Fab.com, here) and cut out the shorts from some striped stretch fabric I still had available. I wanted to have the shorts end on a blue stripe as that would match the dress better. However, when I put on the finished product, it was too long, and was clearly visible when wearing the skirt. Oh noes!

Front long Front short

So… I made another one that was shorter. Why not cut of some length of the first one? Well two reasons, 1. I didn’t want a green stripe at the bottom and 2. I needed some short leggings to wear under my butt-protector shorts during roller derby, and the first pair were just long enough to serve that purpose. I still managed to get the blue stripe at the bottom in the second version, so that was nice. You can see the difference in length between these two. There are a couple of extra stripes on the right one.

Back long Back short

I have no idea why the left one pulls more than the right one in the back, especially since they are the same pattern. I’ve still got to try the full length version at some point. Not in summer though. First I need to finish a shirt from the remainders of this fabric…

O.O. the Octopus I

Sometimes you (re)find something that you just cannot ignore anymore.

Eye Right Eye

This happened to me at the start of April. I had found the free Octo the Octopus pattern on Ravelry (posted on Knitty here) way before this time, but I was afraid that it would take too long and would be too many stitches for me to actually finish. Since the first discovery I made some dinosaurs, some dragons and some other large projects. Then, my office wanted to have a knitting project for themselves. They really liked the Allosaurus even though it looked quite angry and wanted something for their own office that could be a group project. I suggested this Octopus that I’d found ages before. Everyone can knit a leg and I can join them to a head at the end with Kitchener stitch.

Starting this project in the office gave me some real craving to make one for myself. I didn’t want to make it in the same colours as the office one, but they had picked all the fun colours: blue on top but the entire rainbow for the bottom of the – legs? arms? – tentacles. This meant that I had a choice to make!

Flat Spread

I decided to buy a grey and brown ball of yarn and make a striped octopus. I googled ‘striped octopus’ after I’d already knit 4 stripes and found that there is a striped octopus, but it has white too. So off to the shoppy I went again and got some white. The stripes at the top were very regular, so I sewed in a line of white stitches to break it up a little. Then I just went and did completely irregular stripes. All the tentacles follow the same stripe composition and the bottom of the tentacles and his belly are blue. I followed the pattern closely (including errata), however, I did not want to knit with fingering weight yarn. So I substituted with some thicker yarn not knit double and changing the knitting of the eyelids. Google pictures told me that there is an octopus with white eyelid edges, so I chose to do that to get an even edge.

It went a lot quicker than expected. I finished him in under three weeks with most of my free time knitting him. You can find my notes on Ravelry here, they are quite limited *cough*. The reason why this post is posted a little bit after he was finished was mostly because he didn’t really have a name yet. After extensive discussion, we have come up with something…

We are pleased to hereby introduce O.O. Octopus I, Otto Octopuff Octopus The First, to the world. He was finished on April 21, weighs 539 grams, and measures 88 centimeters from head to tentacle. He will rest throughout working hours.

To scale

Otto will live on a stool in my living room, actually the black one you see on the left of the picture above. In the picture I’m holding him for scale (note, I am 1.58 m tall), he is quite big! Right now, I do believe that O.O. and the Dragon tie for first spot of most awesome knitted animal..

Blue Stripes

In my opinion, there is no such thing as owning too many t-shirts (or sweaters for that matter). I have started to accumulate quite a bit of stretchy fabric that I think deserves to be made up into something. So the other night I decided that it was imperative that I trace by beloved t-shirt pattern, copied from an old shirt, onto something sturdier. I bought some wrapping paper that’s not as flimsy as my normal tissue paper and traced all the pieces onto it. I even cut out the two sleeves separately, as that should help with fabric usage and pattern placement.

I also attempted to scoop out the front armscyes a little. In order to test whether that adjustment had the intended result, I needed to make another t-shirt. I looked around through my box of knits and discovered a white, light blue and dark blue striped fabric that seemed perfect for the attempt. What I like most about striped fabric, is that you can aim at something to make it look good.

You can cut out neck binding, such that the stripe is nicely centered. When sewing side seams, you can try to match up the stripes as best as possible and that makes it look nicer. I think my attempt was pretty decent. I’m not sure if the arm adjustment worked fantastically, but the shirt still looks pretty good (in my opinion), so I’m happy with my pattern.

For this project, I also used a new to me technique/item. A stretch twin needle, to sew the hems and neckline. I think it looks really nice and if my aim is right, which sadly it isn’t always, the double line of stitching perfectly frames the blue stripe, see below. I think a need a bit more practice with this needle and hopefully I’ll be able to make nice stretch items with nice stretch hems from now on.

On to the next project!

Tag: Stripes